The Scopes "Monkey" Trial at 100
NCSE Executive Director Amanda L. Townley presents at the Scopes "Monkey Trial" Centennial Symposium.
One hundred years ago, in July 1925, high school science teacher John T. Scopes was tried and convicted of teaching human evolution in Dayton, Tennessee. Though the "Trial of the Century" marked the first major effort to stifle the teaching of evolution in US public schools, it was certainly not the last. NCSE has joined countless others over the years to defend evolution education from ideological interference, locally and nationally. To mark this centennial, NCSE collaborated with the Evolutionary Studies Institute at Vanderbilt University to present a "Scopes 'Monkey Trial' Centennial Symposium" — a two-day event featuring leading experts from around the world speaking on all things Scopes. Watch recordings of the talks below.
NCSE also hosted a webinar series, "The Scopes 'Monkey' Trial: Past, Present, and Future,” with talks by former NCSE Executive Director Eugenie C. Scott, Edward ("Ted") Davis, Professor Emeritus of Science at Messiah University, and Adam Laats, Professor of Education and History at Binghamton University (and an NCSE Friend of Darwin awardee).
Webinar Series: The Scopes ‘Monkey’ Trial: Past, Present, and Future
"The Trial of the Century": Scopes at 100
2025 marks the 100th anniversary of the “trial of the century”: Tennessee v. John T. Scopes, the first major sally against the teaching of evolution in the US, and, mostly because of the fictional play and movie "Inherit the Wind," wrongly perceived as a victory for evolution over the forces of obscurantism. The full story is much more complex and interesting, involving science, religion, law, education, politics, celebrities, modern communications, and the politicization of science. Presented by former NCSE Executive Director Eugenie C. Scott.
Bryan’s Religious Opponents: Protestant Modernists and Science
In the years surrounding the Scopes trial, the University of Chicago Divinity School — the geographic and theological center of Protestant modernism in North America — published a series of 10 pamphlets on “Science and Religion” by nationally prominent scientists and religious leaders. Intended to diminish opposition to evolution and to persuade Christians to adopt more positive attitudes toward modern science, they were widely distributed to high school principals, university campuses, scientists, clergy, and legislators. Very scarce today, the pamphlets and their history constitute a revealing window on the Protestant modernist encounter with science, adding new context for understanding William Jennings Bryan and his opponents at the trial. Presented by Edward B. (“Ted”) Davis.
The Scopes Trial: The Start of America’s Hundred-Year Culture War
The Scopes trial was more than a one-time spectacle. It was about much more than evolutionary theory and evangelical religion. The trial was the first celebrity confrontation in the all-too-familiar culture wars that have raged ever since. It dug durable trench lines between the same sides we recognize today, on issues ranging from race and science to sexuality and history. Presented by Adam Laats.
Scopes “Monkey” Trial Centennial Symposium
NCSE was proud to collaborate with the Evolutionary Studies Institute at Vanderbilt University to present the "Scopes 'Monkey Trial' Centennial Symposium" — a two-day event featuring leading experts from around the world speaking on all things Scopes. Recordings of every talk are below.
